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| Botticelli painted himself into the picture |
Yesterday there was a wedding in our little community and the bride and groom were at the overlook of the bay and beach, calm water, sailboats, blue sky; a composition waiting to happen. We watched in horror as they all grouped around a park car (it was a vintage white caddie...) that was unfortunately parked so to obstruct the gorgeous backdrop.
Outside of the all that was the issue of digital cameras and pictures for the sake of saying "hold still, smile, awww". We do it too often and I myself am as guilty as the rest because I figure if I just snap snap snap there will be a pony somewhere in that pile of s..t as the saying goes.
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| Adoration of the Magi c.1475 3 members of the Medici family kneeling Bottecelli supposedly on the far right |
I bring this up because I was just looking through some favorite paintings that inspired some of my favorite music. The Adoration of the Magi (Botticelli, c.1475) and the Respighi musical movement of the same name from his Botticelli Portraits.
The panel (right) includes the three members of the Medici family (on their knees before the Child), Del Lama, the guy who commissioned the work (white hair upper right) and of course the artist with the view of the whole scene. Everyone of importance in the painting was dead before it was finished.
Point is that this is the other extreme from our look and snap society. You can now go back to your coffee. My work is done.